(no subject)

[willowistari.livejournal.com]

Hello! ilea suggested I join after I posted some clay questions to my LJ the other day. Since then I've managed to google answers to most of what I was wondering, except for one thing. (I double checked the tags to see if this has been addressed; if it has I missed it and I apologize.)

I work primarily with fimo clay and on rare occasion sculpey, making small figures of animals and such. Usually I bought all the colors I needed, but now I'm itching to try painting up some blank white figures instead. Problem is I'm not entirely sure how to go about getting that nice smooth, finished look. Do you sand it and buff it before you paint? What about some sort of primer like acrylic gesso before adding color? Someone mentioned painting a glaze over it before I added color, is this better than using gesso?

I use water based acrylic paints, which I should probably mention before I forget. Thanks a bunch for all the help. :)